


Learn to Let Go

by Carlos_Of_Night_Vale



Series: Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Childhood Friends, Delores is a real girl and she has an afro, Elementary School Shenanigans, F/M, so I made them some, some light racism, these kids need friends of color!!!, they're still babies so they're just gonna hold hands on the swings and stuff, you can pry that headcanon out of cold dead gay hands
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2020-01-01 09:39:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18333425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carlos_Of_Night_Vale/pseuds/Carlos_Of_Night_Vale
Summary: September 1995 to May 2002: the elementary school years. The kids make friends and realize that not everything in life is easy and that they have a lot of hurt, but they also know that they have their friends and family behind them the whole way.And that means everything.





	1. New Perspective

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all really made Bitter's End my second most popular fic, huh? Wild. Chapters alternate between the school year and summertime and the fic title is the song by Kesha. Chapter title is the P!atD song from the Jennifer's Body soundtrack.

  **September- First Day of Kindergarten**

   Grace woke the kids up at 6:30 in the morning, the earliest that any of them had woke up since the death of their father. She made a simple breakfast, but promised to make it up to them by making a special dinner with all their favorites. The breakfast table was quiet and tense. The children were quiet, nervous about going to school with other children. They finished in silence, and Grace had them grab their bags and they loading into the van that Grace had purchased a year and a half ago. They were there by 7:30, still quiet and still nervous. Grace led them out of the car and walked them up to their classrooms on the side of the school. She smiled down at her children and walked them to their classes. Diego, Klaus, Ben and Vanya in one class, Luther and Allison in another. She walked Five to his classroom more towards the higher grades and leaves him there. She walked back to the van and she got into the car. Grace smiled to herself as she started up the car to head back to the house. She knew they would do fine.

 

  Diego was panicking. He was so afraid to stutter in front of other people and that he wouldn't be able to get the words out without mom there. Sure, Ben, Klaus, and Vanya were here, but he wanted mom. He looked around the room, staying close to Klaus. There were a lot of kids there. It was overwhelming and scary. All of them were playing with different toys around the classroom, but he didn't want to go anywhere without his siblings. "What so you guys wanna do?" he asked, turning towards them. 

  Klaus shrugged. Ben looked more scared than Diego did, and was cowering close to Vanya, who was holding his hand. "Can we just sit down?" he whispered quietly.

  The other three nodded and made their way to a nearby table and sat down. There were five seats to a table, and with the four of them, there was one left unoccupied. The Hargreeves stayed there until another girl was dropped off by her mother. She was brown, a little lighter than Diego. She put her things away and looked around the room shyly. She saw the t four of them sitting and walked over to the empty seat. "Is anyone else sitting here yet?" she asked, smiling at them.

  Vanya shook her head, "No."

  "Is it okay if I sit here?" the girl asked, looking at her feet.

  Vanya looked to her brothers for approval. They shared a glance and nodded. "Sure," Klaus responded.

  "Thanks!" the girl said as she sat down. "I'm Marnie."

  "I'm Klaus, and these are my siblings Vanya, Diego, and Ben," Klaus stated, gesturing to his siblings.

  Marnie waved at them. "It's nice to meet you." She looked between the four of them. "You guys are all adopted, right? I'm not trying to be mean, but I wanted to ask since none of you really look alike. I'm sorry, that was a stupid thing to ask. I shouldn't have asked that. I'm sorry." She looked down at her desk and frowned.

  Ben looked at her, then back to his siblings, then back at Marnie. He blushed and reached for her hand, grabbing it, "It's okay Marnie. It wasn't mean or stupid."

  Diego nodded, "Yeah, you du-don't have to apologize. Wu-we are adopted. We have th-th-three other siblings in different classes."

  Marnie looked up, "That's a lot of siblings. You guys must have a lot of fun together."

  "We do," Diego smiled at her. She hadn't said anything about his stutter.

  "We still have some time left before class starts, so do you guys want to go play for a while?" Marnie asked earnestly.

  It was Ben who replied. "That sound like fun."

  "Then let's go!" yelled Klaus. The five of them got up and ran to the nearest unoccupied toys on the floor and stayed there until the teacher called the class together to begin. Diego changed his mind. School might be kind of fun after all.

 

  Allison walked into her and Luther's classroom and felt overwhelmed instantly. There were so many people and it was just her and Luther and she didn't want to accidentally rumor someone. Every thought must have shown on her face, because Luther grabbed her hand and squeezed, trying to tell her that everything was going to be okay. Neither of them noticed the two girls walking up to them until they were in front of them. "Hi, I'm Naya. I love your hair! It's so pretty!" said one of the girls. 

  Allison smiled, "Thanks. I like your too!" Naya had curly hair like her, but it was bigger, framing her face in an almost afro, and she was darker than her. Allison thought she was beautiful. So did Luther.

  The other girl spoke, "I'm Darren. We came over to you guys because you looked kind of like you were gonna be sick."

  Naya poked Darren in the side, "That's mean, Darren!" She turned back to Allison and Luther, "Ignore Darren, she's a butthead. What are your names?" 

  "I'm Allison, and this is my brother Luther," Allison replied, dropping Luther's hand. It fell limply at his side. He was staring at Naya.

  Naya looked at him and smiled, blushing a little, "It's nice to meet you Luther."

  Luther's eyes widened, then he turned brick red and looked at the floor, mumbling a 'hello' at the two of them.

  Darren met Allison's eyes and the two of them giggled at Luther and Naya. Darren scooted closer to her and whispered, "How much do you wanna bet that they're gonna blush like that all day?"

  Luther turned and glared, red-faced, at the two of them. " 'm not gonna be red all day."

  Naya faced them as well, her hands on her hips in a pose she saw her mom do when she got mad at her brothers. "Yeah. You guys are being mean, so Luther and I are gonna go play without you. C'mon Luther!" she grabbed his hand and practically dragged him towards the toys.

  Darren and Allison looked at each other and dissolved into giggles again. "Wait for us, you guys!" Allison called after them as she and Darren made to catch up. Allison decided in that moment that she wasn't scared anymore. Naya and Darren were sweet. She hoped they would be friends forever.

 

  Five sat in the back of the classroom by himself. He wasn't nervous. He just wanted to get it over with. He wasn't here to make friends. He pulled a book out of his backpack and started reading. Then a girl with hair and skin like Allison sat down in the seat next to him. She looked around the classroom, kicking her feet back and forth as she did. She looked over at him and looked at the cover, her lips moving as she read the title. He ignored her and kept reading. "I loved _To Kill a Mockingbird_. It was real good. Do you like it so far?" she asked.

  He looked at her and frowned. "It's alright, I guess."

  She grinned, "Where are you in it?"

  "Atticus' speech."

  "Oh! That's my favorite part! I'll let you read it, but tell me when you're done," the girl said excitedly.

  Five nodded, his face neutral, "Okay." The girl nodded and she went back to kicking he legs under the desk and looking around the classroom. She eventually reached down to her bag and pulled out a copy of _Equal Rites_ by Terry Pratchett and started reading to pass the time, all the while kicking her legs under the desk all the while. Several minutes later, Five slid his bookmark into the book and set it on the desk. "Done," he said.

  The girl put her own bookmark into her book as well and set it down, propping her face up on her hands, "What did you think?"

  "I admire the fact that he tried to convince these people to let Tom go. Everyone in that courtroom knew he was an innocent man, even the people accusing him, and Atticus was just trying to make them see that. It's an incredible speech, and it uses every appeal in the book," Five stated, looking at the girl.

  She nodded, "Yeah, Atticus tries really hard to get people to go against everything they're taught and told to get them to do the right thing. It's even harder in the rural area they're in because of the constant conflict between poor white people and black people in the South at the time." She smiled at him again. "I'm Delores," she said, sticking her hand out for him to shake.

  "Five," he replied, taking it.

  Delores tilted her head. "Like the number?"

  "Yeah," he frowned, "Is that a problem?"

  Delores' eyes widened. "Oh, no! I'm sorry! That sounded kinda rude, didn't it? I'm just trying to figure out a nickname for you is all!"

  Five frowned deeper, "Nickname?"

  "Mh-hm," Delores hummed, "and I just though of it. I'm gonna call you Vee."

  "Why?"

  " 'cause your name's Five! So I can call you Vee like the roman numeral."

  Five though about it for a moment. "I'd like that, Delores," he said, smiling at her for the first time.

  She returned it, eyes lighting up. "I'm glad you like it, Vee." She and Five talked until class started. He realized that, even if he wasn't here to make any friends, making one wouldn't be so bad. Especially if it was Delores.

**October- Halloween**

To say the her children were excited was an understatement. They had all been planning their costumes for months. There had been some minor adjustments in the past month since starting school, but nothing too serious. All of the parents had pitched in to help with costumes, and Naya, Marnie, Delores, and Darren's parents hadn't even batted an eye at seven children who were born on the same day-all of whom are unrelated-with unusual superhuman abilities, their robot mother, and their intelligent guardian who was a talking monkey. They had really taken everything in stride, and all nine members of the strange household had been very grateful. Grace had been pleasantly surprised that she had more in common with them than she had assumed. It was nice to have friend that weren't paintings. At breakfast, the children were practically vibrating in their seats as they chattered excitedly at breakfast, excited to see their friend's costumes. Even Five wasn't acting as grumpy as he usually did. 

  When they got to school, the seven of them shot out of the van ahead of Grace, who was smiling happily, watching her children run to their friends. She opened the back of the car to reveal an almost excessive amount of home baked goods, which she had made over the weekend with the parents of her children's friends. She was glad that her children had made such good friends already. "Christ on a cracker, I forgot how much we made," she heard behind her, turning to see Catherine, Marnie's oldest sister, running her fingers through her short black hair. 

  Grace laughed. "It's not that much, I'm sure. Shouldn't you be dropping off Kaya?" she said, starting to unload everything.

  "Nah, I made her take the bus. Hey, let me get some of that! No need for you to do all the heavy lifting here, Grace," Catherine said rushing forward to take some of the things from the trunk. 

  "Y'all need any help?" came the Georgian lilt of Delores' dad Marcus.

  Cat turned, arms laden with trays of sweets. "Oh good. You're just in time to take all of these off my hands," she stated, unceremoniously depositing them into his outstretched arms.

  Marcus looked down at the stack of full trays in his arms, then back at Catherine, then to the full trunk, then at Grace. "I think we've made a terrible mistake that will never be forgiven," he deadpanned, face bland.

  "Yeah, these kids are gonna have enough sugar to power them up until Christmas," added another voice from behind him.

  Grace smiled, "Hello Jesus. Is Laura dropping off Anthony and Brian this morning?"

  Jesus, Naya's father, grinned and nodded, "She figured you'd need the extra arm strength to carry all of this in." He gestured to the rest of the trays, "The sooner we get them in, the earlier we can escape the wrath of the rest of the parents who are gonna want revenge for us putting all their kids in a sugar coma."

  Catherine grabbed another two trays and balanced them on her hip. "Yes," she deadpanned, "Heaven forbid we get barred from the PTA. What a travesty." They all laughed at Catherine's face as she said this, all of the knowing about Catherine's avid dislike of anything PTA related.

  Marcus glanced over at where the kids were running around on the playground together in their costumes. "Looks like Rita and James have got their hands full already."

  All of them turned to see what he was talking about, and were greeted by the children running wild around the play structure, Rita and James, Darren's grandparents, keeping careful watch over them as they did. Diego, Luther, Allison, Darren, and Vanya were running around, fighting invisible enemies together in their Power Rangers costumes. Naya, Ben, Klaus, and Marnie were sitting at a play table in their Alice in Wonderland costumes, having a loud, rambunctious tea party that involved them getting up and running to switch places. Five and Delores were quieter, but no less excited, snooping around in their costumes, solving crimes as Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler. 

  Grace smiled serenely, "I'm so glad they have each other."

  Catherine turned to Grace and matched her smile with one of her own, "We are too, Grace.We are too."

  They chatted for a little while longer as they unloaded the trays from the van and into the respective classrooms. They said their goodbyes to the children, then took their leave to go to work or back home. Grace settled into the driver's seat and waved at Marcus and Rita and James as they left the lot. She realized something in that moment. It wasn't;t just the children that needed friends. She had too. She had never realized how lonely she felt until she had met these people. Rita and James with their wisdom, Marcus' cool wit, Jesus and Laura's gentleness, and Catherine's bold and brazen attitude were things she had never realized she needed. Grace felt happy, and content, and accepted. She decided that she liked that. 

 

**January- Martin Luther King Jr. Day**

 Allison was waiting by the door for Delores's dad to pick her up. It was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The others were already at school, but Marcus had asked Grace, Jesus, and Laura if he could take her and Naya with him and Delores with him to do something special that day. So she was waiting with mom for him to arrive. She was really excited. She had never missed school before to go do something fun. There was a knock on the door. Allison shot up from hereat on the stairs and practically ran for the door as mom puller it open, revealing Naya and Delores both grinning with Marcus standing behind them smiling calmly. "Hi guys!" Allison yelled, hugging the two girls.

  "Hi Allison! Hi Miss Grace!" Delores grinned, displaying the missing front tooth she had lost the month before.

  "Hey, Allison. Hi Grace," Marcus replied, hugging Grace. "I'll have her home by 7:30."

  Grace smiled, "I trust you. Thank you for taking her."

  Marcus shrugged, "No bother for me to do it's I might as well."

  "Oh, I know. But I'm still thankful nonetheless," she responded. "Allison, behave yourself today, alright?"

  Allison nodded, "Yes mom." She hugged Grace's legs, receiving a kiss on the head, "I'll see you later!" Grace laughed and closed the door with one last loving smile and a goodbye.

  Marcus gathered the girls and herded them to his car. He made sure they were all strapped in, then he started up the car. "Why don't you girls pick some music for the ride?" he asked, pulling a case of cd's from the front seat and passed it back to the three. Naya received it, as she was in the middle seat and opened it, revealing artists that Allison had never really heard of before. The three of them flipped through the case, trying to decide on something. Then an album caught Allison's eye.

  "Who's that?" she asked, pointing to the beautiful woman with big curly hair like her and Naya and Delores wearing a white tank to and smiling.

  Naya and Delores looked at her. "You've never seen Whitney Houston before?" Delores asked. Allison shook her head. Delores shared a look with her dad through the rear view mirror and gently slid _Whitney_ out of its place. "Dad, we've got it," she said, placing the cd in his outstretched hand.

  "Good choice, kiddo," Marcus said as he slid the disc into the player and cranked the volume. The song started and Allison was entranced. She had never heard anything like this before. She was soon dancing in the back seat-well, as much as she could with Naya and Delores squished in with her-and singing along with the words that she picked up with them. As she sang along with the word about wanting to dance with somebody who loves her, she felt at home. 

  They managed to listen to a good portion of the album before they reached their destination. Marcus parked and turned the music down, "We're here, girls. It's just down the street."

  The girls clambered out of the car. They waited patiently for Marcus to lock the car before they grabbed each other's hands and started walking. The walk was five minutes from the garage the Marcus had parked in, and soon they were standing at the entrance of a beautiful earthy brown building. Allison looked at the writing on the door, "Brooklyn Historical Society?"

  Marcus nodded. "I brought you guys here so you could learn a little bit about your heritage today. This day is really important for black people in America. It's important for all minorities, really. Today is the day we celebrate a man who led the movement to end segregation and voting discrimination. Without him and the people he worked with, a lot more people would still be struggling to do even the most basic things, like buy groceries." He looked down at the three little brown girls in his care, "You guys ready to go in?"

  All three nodded, and the four of them walked into the big building.

 

  When Allison crawled into bed that night, she looked at the wall where her vanity was and smiled at the newly placed poster of Shirley Chisholm above it and smile. She went to bed that night feeling like she knew herself better. Now she knew where she came from, and that was the best thing she could've asked for.

 

**May- Cinco De Mayo**

 Diego had never been inside a bakery like this before. He was with Naya and her family and Darren. Anthony and Brian were chattering to each other in Spanish as they used the platter and tongs to grab pastry after pastry from the glass cabinets. Laura, Rita and James were chatting with the women at the counter, also in Spanish. He was standing with Naya and Darren, both chattering excitedly to each other in Spanish and pointing to different cases, feeling a bit out of place.

  Darren looked at him, "Are you okay, Diego?" 

  "Yeah, you look kinda lost," Naya added.

  Diego looked down at his feet. "I g-guess. I-i-i j-ju-st d-do-," he stuttered and stopped talking.

  "Do you want me to get the parents?" Darren asked, frowning little. Diego nodded and Darren scampered towards where the parents were standing and talking. She pulled on Laura's sweater and gestured back to Diego. 

  Laura was a speech therapist and had been helping Diego with his stuttering problem. She came over with Darren and knelt down in front of Diego, who had started crying. "Diego, what wrong, sweetheart?" she asked, running his hand over his hair to try and calm him down. Diego looked up at her and tried to talk again, but stumbling over his words again. "Hey, hey, remember what you mom says. Picture the word in your head, and remember to breathe."

  Diego took a few deep breathes, and spoke, "I don't know how to speak Spanish."

  Laura looked heartbroken, "Oh, _mijo_. You feel left out, huh?"

  Diego nodded. Naya and Darren swarmed Diego and hugged him. Anthony and Brian came over to them after dropping their tray off at the counter. "What's going on, mom?" Brian asked, curiosity piqued by his sister and Darren hugging a crying Diego.

  Laura looked up at her younger son, "Diego just feels a little left out because he doesn't speak Spanish, honey."

  Anthony, the older one, knelt down by his mother, "If you wanna learn, we can teach you, little bro."

  Diego looked at Anthony, wide eyed. "Really?" he asked as Naya and Darren detached themselves from him.

  "Sure, dude!" Brian responded, "and we can start with where we are ri-."

  "We wanna do it!" Naya interjected excitedly. "Darren and me wanna do it!"

  Laura smiled placatingly at her daughter, "Of course you can, baby." She stood-as did Anthony-and spoke to the boys. "Let the girls handle it for today, huh?" she smiled as she led them away to go stand with James.

  Diego looked at Naya and Darren with wide eyes. "You guys are really gonna teach me?"

  "Yup!" Darren stated, her hands on her hips proudly, "and we're gonna start now! So, where do you think we are?"

  Diego looked around, "Um, a bakery?"

  Naya smiled, "Uh-huh. But in Spanish, we call it a _panaderia_ , and the bread we get here is called _pan dulce_. Got it?"

  Diego nodded. 

  "Today is a holiday, too," Darren added. "There's a town in Mexico that fought the back the French to keep them from invading America to help the Confederates during the Civil War. The tiny Mexican army won, so that town celebrates the day that they beat the French and helped end slavery too!"

  "Wow. I didn't know that," Diego said slowly. "So Mexico helped end slavery?"

  Naya nodded. "Pretty cool, huh?" Darren asked.

  "Yeah, it is," Diego sighed.

  "Alright you three, time to go," James called out as the rest of them walked to the door.

  "Coming!" all three children yelled as they all ran for the door together.

 

  When he got home, Diego ran straight to Allison to tell her about how tiny any in a tiny village in Mexico helped end slavery, then he asked Grace if it was okay if he took Spanish lessons with James and Laura.

She-of course-said yes.

**The Last Day of Kindergarten**

 Grace had never been happier with a decision. She watched the children run around together, watched by an exasperated Catherine and an indulgent Kaya. They had begged her to let them stay and wait until all the parents were there so they could all leave together. She relented. 

  She watched her children and the children that she had grown to love just as much, all the time realizing that if Reginald Hargreeves hadn't died of a heart attack in 1993, her children wouldn't be this happy, and neither would she. Grace was soon joined by the rest of the parents and they all stood and talked together until it was time to go.

 

  As Grace sat on her bench with her needlepoint after she tucked the children in, she looked at her paintings, the only company she used to have, and thought about how her children weren't lonely anymore.

  She set her needlepoint down and closed her eyes. She smiled as she shut down for the night.

 

She wasn't lonely anymore either.

 


	2. Someday- A Summer Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summer of 1996

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summertime, and the living's easy.  
> Chapter name for all summer chapters are all from Golden Hour by the Grinns. (Fun Fact! I went to elementary school with the lead singer of the band)

     The first day of summer is the most boring day ever, Klaus decided. He had woken up that morning, ready to go to school and see all his friends, but then he had realized that he didn't have school today. He sighed heavily and flopped back down on his bed. He lay there, bored, until he realized that at least one of this siblings was also awake. He jumped out of bed and made his way to Vanya's room to his left. He knocked on her door quietly and whispered, "Vanya, you awake?"

     The door opened, and there stood Five, with the rest of their siblings all piled on Vanya's bed. "Took you long enough to wake up," Five snarked as he moved aside to let Klaus in. He immediately jumped in and snuggled between Diego and Ben.

     Five teleported back to the bed between Vanya and Allison and the siblings sat in a companionable silence for a while. Then Ben spoke, "What if they don't want to be friend anymore when we go back next year?"

     They were all silent. Ben had said what they had all been thinking, and now that it was out, they couldn't ignore it. "I'm sure they'll still be our friends when summer's over. They have to be, right?" Diego asked, frowning.

     "Of course they will," Five replied matter-of-factly. 

     Luther looked at Five, "You can say that about Delores because you guys are in the same class until high school. Naya, Marnie, and Darren are different."

     Vanya looked extremely worried, "Let's go ask mom. She's probably making breakfast by now."

     There were sounds of the affirmative and the Hargreeves all piled off of Vanya's bed and all scurry downstairs to find Grace. Vanya's assumption that Grace was up and making breakfast had been correct. She had been making special first day of summer vacation crepes with all the possible toppings she could find online. She had a pile much bigger than what her children could eat alone, but they didn't notice when they all entered the kitchen. Diego goes up to Grace and pulls on her skirt to get her attention, "Mom?"

     She looked down at Diego from the mixing bowl full of cream cheese filling for their very special breakfast, "Yes dear?"

     "Are all our friends still gonna like us when we go back to school next year?" Klaus blurted out.

     Grace glanced down at her children and their worried faces and was about to speak when the doorbell rang. She smiled widely, "Why don't you all go answer the door before we answer that, hm?"

     The children all looked at each other confusedly, but all made their way to the door. They were all muttering to themselves about who was at the door this early, since it was barely 8 o'clock. Five teleported to the door ahead of all of the siblings and threw open the door. On the other side stood Delores, Naya, Marnie, and Darren with their families.

     "Good morning guys! Happy first day of summer!" Marnie yelled enthusiastically, launching herself into the crowd of siblings, followed just as excitedly by the other three girls.

     Luther blinked, "What are you guys doing here?"

     Delores grinned up at him, "Miss Grace invited us all over to have a special breakfast to celebrate the beginning of summer."

     "So you guys are still friends with us?" Ben asked, hovering back from the crowd of siblings.

     "Of course we are, silly! We love you guys!" Darren responded.

     The Hargreeves children were satisfied with that. They then greeted all their friends and their families as Grace made her way out of the kitchen to welcome all their guests. She led them into the dining room, where the table was full to bursting with the makings for crepes displayed. All the children scrambled towards the table, to the amusement of their families. They all sat together on the floor as the adults sat together and made plans for the children to spend time together all summer. Grace was struck again by the love that all these people had for her precious children and her. Their family had grown so much bigger now, and-in all honestly- she really couldn't be happier.

**Author's Note:**

> To clarify: Marnie is First Nations, Darren is Puerto Rican, Delores is African American, and Naya is Haitian. 
> 
> Also, these chapters are long af so I can't promise a consistent upload schedule, but I'll do my best.


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